A star is born

DETROIT — Niklas Kronwall was named the NHL’s second star of the week with two goals and five assists the past three games.

“He put up some good numbers and had a great week,” Brad Stuart said. “He’s been getting a lot of good chances and putting some of them in, he’s been doing a great job.

“Kronner is a guy who will take on responsibility when guys go down and will look to be more of a leader,” Stuart added. “I don’t know if that has anything to do with his hot streak, but he’s definitely that type of player who will step-up when he’s needed.”

Kronwall has a career-high 14 goals and is tied for second among NHL defensemen, behind Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson, who has 15.

“It’s obviously nice to be recognized but at the same time we all feel in here that it’s a team game and it just happened to be me this time,” Kronwall said. “I’ve been able to give the puck to the right guys at the right time of the game a few times and they have been doing the rest of the job, so I’d like to give them more credit than I deserve really.”